What nature of scam is Freedompop?

[Rakehellion]

http://www.freedompop.com

They claim 100% free high speed internet. They also have a wireless hotspot that offers 500MB of data free for life. What's the catch?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

If you're not buying the product, you are the product.

 

[Soundmanred]

http://techland.time.com/2013/06/05/freedompops-free-wireless-would-be-cool-if-it-wasnt-so-shady/

 

[waggy]

If you're not buying the product, you are the product.

/this

or its sponsored bye the nsa...

 

[Murloc]

so apparently it's filled with hidden fees.

 

[disappoint]

To be honest, if they gave me fiber-class broadband without caps or restrictions at a fraction of the price of current ISPs, they can bend me over and datamine my ass for all I care.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=29004512&postcount=20

 

[mmntech]

If you're not buying the product, you are the product.

This. They monitor your browsing habits then sell it to the highest bidder. Marketers then use it to make a profile on you so they can focus targeted advertising, etc. Of course, who's to say that the big ISPs aren't doing the same thing. Google certainly does.

 

[rsutoratosu]

I have it, I use it as emergency stuff, but basically lots of hidden fees, hard to cancel, useless tech support.

I tried many of their free 500mb data, half the time I can't get connect to sprint, or high ping time at over 300ms.

if you don't use it, there is like a 1.95 non usage fee, wtf is non usage fee ?

I just recently order their phone, package is lost , they sent the wrong phone in the first place, was on hold for over 2 hours trying to get it corrected. luckily I have time.. anyway package is lost, waiting for usps to find it

 

[MotionMan]

If anyone has any tech support problems with them, let me know - One of their tech centers is right across the street from my office in an old pre-school/day care center (seriously). I walk by there most days.

They have a ping-pong table in the front office facing the walkway, so, I assume, they have no tech problems to speak of.

MotionMan

 

[rsutoratosu]

HAHAH i order a phone and its lost, waiting for usps to find it.. took me hours to speak to someone to make them understand, my phone isn't here yet.. i might take you up on that offer if i dont hear from usps within 20 days

 

[drinkmorejava]

I have their free internet plan. The linked article is old, and their service appears to be much better now.

It was really easy to downgrade my service to the free plan. I emailed them and I received an email a few days later with the links I needed.

They also got rid of the inactivity fee for new customers a while ago.

In reality, you only get ~400mb, because they shut off your connection ahead of time to make sure you don't blow over your 500mb cap before the system updates your usage....at least that's what they say

I honestly don't have any big complaints. Service is spotty, but that's obvious given that their 4g devices use the old Clear network.